SeeD is sent to investigate what is left of Sorceress Ultimecia's castle. They are ordered to bring back any magical or other important items. Squall and Rinoa stumble upon a magic mirror that sends them to two different worlds. There may even be more to

Zell shrugged and look to Quistis. "I guess we are partners. Lets
get a move on then!"

Everyone went their separate ways. Rinoa and Squall looked around
Ultimecia's chamber. It was full of dust and smelled of strong perfumes.
Squall began searching desks. "I bet there is something of importance in
here somewhere..."

"Yeah. This is her personal chamber. I'll see if I can sense
anything with a mystical energy." She closed her eyes and concentrated.
She was a sorceress now. Maybe she could sense magical items around her.
But of course that was just a guess. She kept her eyes closed and followed
her senses. She opened her eyes. She stood infront of a mirror. The
border was made of solid gold. She touched the border.

Squall took a book out of the desk. "I found some military plans..."
He flipped through the pages. "This book also has a section about all of
the beasts in the world. This could come in handy. What have you found,
Rinoa?"

"Look at this mirror... Isn't it beautiful." She looked back at
Squall as he approached her.

He stood beside her with the book still in his hands. "It is just a
mirror..."

"But... I sensed some sort of mystic energy coming from this
mirror... Maybe it is coming from something behind the mirror..." She
crawled behind it. "There isn't anything back here... Hey... Do you have
a lighter or anything?"

He handed her a lighter. "Just to let you know. I have that for
emergencies. I don't smoke."

"Good to hear." She replied. "There is something written back
here... When you look in this mirror you shall see, one of three worlds
before thee... Look even closer and you'll find another self... Look
again, another you. It isn't your reflection it belongs to two others.
This mirror links the three worlds and maybe more... There is more here
but I can't read it." She crawled out from behind it and handed the
lighter to Squall who took it back quickly.

Rinoa put a hand on the cool glass also. "I wonder what all of those
words meant... Some rhymed some didn't. It must have been written by
another sorceress who had no idea what she was doing..."

The two looked at eachother and then back at the mirror as they took
their hands away. Rinoa jumped up. Squall stared in silence. Rinoa
smiled. "Wow! Look!"

Two others stood in the mirror. They look like Squall and Rinoa a
bit but it was easy to see that they were not. Squall's other reflection
had extremely spiky light blonde hair and carried a giant sword. Rinoa's
reflection had long black hair just like her. Their eyes were the same
color. The girl was more casually dresses with black shorts and a simple
white tanktop.

"Hmm... Maybe we should see if we could see the third reflection of
ourselves..." Squall suggested putting his hand back on the glass.

They both did what they did the first time. They repeated their
actions exactly. It worked like a charm. These new reflections looked
like they were from the age of castles, dragons, and knights in shining
armor. The man had dirty blonde less spiky hair. He had a furry brown
tail. The girl looked like some sort of queen. She wore a beautiful white
dress and wore a beautiful necklace that had a sparkling charm that looked
almost in the shape of a falcon claw.

"She is quite pretty... Look at that dress... I want that dress!"
Rinoa jumped up and down happily. She calmed herself after she got a brief
chuckle from Squall. "So how do you think this thing works? Is it just
for show?"

"Why would an evil sorceress have an item in your chamber just for
show?" Squall asked.

Rinoa pondered that for a moment. "She wouldn't... So there must be
more to this thing than looking at your different reflections. Hmmm.
Maybe there is more on the back. Lets move it away from the wall so I
don't have to climb behind it into all of the spider webs."

He nodded and pulled the mirror away from the wall. The both got on
one knee and wiped away all of the dust. "There is nothing else here that
is decipherable accept... I link all worlds three, just take a step inside
of me."

Rinoa quickly got up and stood in front of the mirror. Squall slowly
got up and saw her taking a few steps back until her back was against the
wall. "You aren't going to try to run into it are you? That's just
stupid."

"No it isn't... And, yes, I am going to try to run into the mirror.
I betcha I'll be sent to one of the three worlds--whatever they are..."
Rinoa started running to the mirror.

Squall jumped in front of her thinking she would just hurt herself.
Rinoa crashed into him and he fell back. They both hit the ground with a
thud. "Rinoa... Don't you dare try that again..."

They both got up. They were facing the wall so they turned around
quickly, thinking they would see the mirror. Instead they were standing
face to face with the queen-like woman and the man with the tail. Rinoa
and Squall stared at them. They were a bit shorter than they were so they
guessed that these people were a bit younger than they were.

"Maybe the mirror is just toying with us..." Squall muttered, not
taking his eyes off the monkey person.

Rinoa reached out slowly and touched the girl's cheek. Once she felt
the cool flesh she yanked her hand back. "You guys are real!"

The monkey boy crossed his arms about his chest with a grin, "Of
course we are real. We aren't any stuffed animals."

The girl bowed, "Greetings. My name is Queen Garnet Til
Alexandrios."

Garnet looked to her friend quickly wanting him to do the same. The
boy bowed with a sigh. "Hallo... My name would be Zidane Tribal."

Squall shrugged and did the same. "My name is Squall Leonhart..."

Rinoa giggled and did as they had. "Hi. My name is Rinoa Heartily.
It is a pleasure to meet you both... A very pleasurful surprise indeed..."

They all cast another glance at eachother. Zidane spoke up, "Are you
aware that you came through a wall?"

Squall turned around. He touched the wall. His hand went through.
He made sure nobody noticed this. He turned his attention back to the two.
"We can't really explain that, for, we really don't know much of it
ourselves... Would you be so kind as to forget that minor detail..."

Garnet nodded, "Okay. Hmm... You must be mages from another
continent. I guess it was some kind of secret experiment. We promise not
to tell a soul."

"Yep. Not a soul." Zidane added.

"Thanks. Umm... Not to be too entirely rude, but could we talk
somewhere else... But also, somewhere private. That going through the
wall thing kind of made me dizzy and I need to sit down before I fall flat
on my face." Rinoa tried her best to talk like royalty, using big important
words. She was the daughter of high authority and wondered if that is the
way she should be speaking to others.

The queen smiled, "Of course. Using magic is tiring isn't it? Being
a summoner myself, I completely understand. But before we go anywhere, you
need to change your clothes. That is, if you don't want to make a scene."

She whispered to Squall, "I am going to get to wear a pretty dress!
Say yes! Say that we don't want to make a scene! I wanna wear a pretty
dress!"

He replied, "And what am I going to wear... What if they fix me up
with something stupid...?" Rinoa gave him a puppy dog expression.
"Fine..."

Squall said allowed to them, "We certainly do not intend on making a
scene... It would be wonderful if you could give us a disguise for our
time here... Of course, If it isn't any trouble for you... We also do not
intend on starting any trouble with your highness."

Rinoa wondered how he was so good at giving compliments and talking
so nicely. It was especially odd because... Well... He's Squall for crying
out loud! Zidane motioned. "Just follow me Squall... We'll go and get ya
some decent clothes."

"I'm certain that I have a dress that is perfect for you, Miss
Rinoa." Garnet giggled at the joyous expression that appeared on Rinoa's
face after she had said that. "Haven't you ever worn a dress such as
this?" She gesticulated to the dress she was wearing.

"No... I am usually wearing casual clothes. There aren't many
occasions when I have to dress up. But... It is like a dream for me to
wear a beautiful dress like the one you are wearing your highness." Her
eyes sparkled in anticipation.

"You are going to love staying with us then! It'll be fun fitting
you with the perfect dress. We'll pick out some nice jewelry too. And
please, don't call me your highness. My friends call me Dagger. That is
what you can call me." Dagger said all of it as if it were a sleep over
and they were going to play dress up or something. Rinoa thought that it
was most likely because she didn't get to have much girl time like that.

"Thanks a lot. Dagger. Shall we get started?" She smiled.

Meanwhile Zidane was tearing apart closets trying to find a certain
article of clothing for Squall who was just standing there in the corner
almost ready to go to sleep. "I swear I put it in this closet! Where did
it go?!" He finally found it, it seemed. "Aha. here."

Squall took it and looked at it. It was just a white tank top, black
shorts that touched his knees, and a black vest. Zidane threw him a pair
of shoes. He ducked just as they were going to hit him in the head. Just
black sneakers. "Uh."

"You want something fancy? Look, I am no king or prince. I am a
proud member of the theater troupe Tantalus that is also the best band of
thieves out there. What you're holding is the perfect thief's outfit. If
you don't like it, I'll get you something else." He explained.

Squall showed Zidane his gunblade and forced a smile. "I was just
wondering where to put this. And also, where I am supposed to change."

"Oh. Nice sword. Tie it to one of the belt loops or something man.
Or I can keep it for you. I suggest you keep it. It makes you look even
cooler. All the chicks will pay attention to ya." Zidane grinned. "Me on
the other hand, don't need girls because I have my Dagger."

"No. That is Garnet's nickname. She used it once as an alias so the
people in the town wouldn't realize it was her. But, we all have grown
fond of that name. So has she." Zidane explained.

"She is your girlfriend. Well I don't need my gunblade because I
have my Rinoa." He felt like sticking out his tongue. "Now where can I
change?" He decided to give up the royal talk and act as laid back as the
guy before him.

Zidane pointed to the closet. "Sorry. This is all I got."

"Its fine. I am not one for richy stuff anyway." He headed into the
closet and quickly changed. He walked out of the closet. "How do I look?"

"Perfect. Just imagine your gal will look when Dagger gives her a
dress." He said.

"Beautiful." Squall stood before Rinoa now. It had taken her a while
to get ready but now that she was she looked ravishing. She wore a
beautiful crystal blue dress. That dragged on the floor. A dark blue bow
tied around her waist. Her shoulders were bare. The dress was made of
such beautiful material that was no longer found in their world. She wore
diamond and silver earring. She wore her usual necklace with his and her
ring on it. She had a light blue on and light blue eye shadow.

She ran up to Squall and hugged him. "Squall! This is so great! I
feel like a princess. And you are my handsome night!"

He hugged her tightly feeling her bare back. They let go of
eachother. Zidane scratched his head. "You two must be from a very far
off continent."

"I guess you could say that." Squall replied deciding not to spoil
the fun by telling them what really happened and where they were really
from. But he promised himself that he would tell these kind people the
truth before they left.

A strange creature entered the room. Its large pink tongue flapping
around out of its mouth. It was hard to tell if it was a man or a woman.
"Time to eat goody goodies! We have guests? Good! They eat my goody good
cooking too!" She left as quickly as she came.

Zidane sighed. "That was Quina Quen. You have certainly seen a Qu'
before right? You seemed a little scared."

"We don't get out much. We are always working on that spell that got
us here. We have never seen one." Squall replied. Rinoa had grabbed his
hand when Quina had entered. She had a death grip.

Rinoa just nodded. She wondered if she looked as terrified as she
had been. But of course she wasn't as terrified as she had been in the
past. Definitely not. So she probably didn't look scared at all. Dagger
took Zidane's arm as he held it out to her. "Shall we?"

Rinoa locked arms with Squall and they followed Dagger and Zidane to
the dining room. It was a quaint and beautiful place. Not too big, not
too small. Perfect. They took their places at the table. Squall told
Rinoa that if she got scared she could hold his hand as tightly as
possible. He would leave that hand free for her.

They sat for a couple minutes talking. Then Quina entered with a
handful of little helper chefs who set the table. The food smelled
delicious. A knight in rusted armor sat at the table with a woman at his
side. Dagger said, "Steiner, Beatrix, we have some guests today. Isn't it
wonderful?"

"Hello. My name is Captain Steiner of the Knights of Pluto," he
said.

"And my name is General Beatrix. What be our lovely guests names?"
She asked.

"My name is Squall Leonhart. And this is Rinoa Heartily." He
decided to introduce them both to save some time.

"It is nice to meet you." Rinoa added.

A little boy sat down at the table. His steepled hat hid his face.
"Pardon me, but you look like a married couple. Are you? By the way, I'm
Vivi. I'm a black mage."

Rinoa blushed. They were older than some of the others in the room
accept Steiner and Beatrix. "No. We aren't." She sighed.

Squall added, "But we are a very close couple. Not ready for marriage
though. There is still too much work to be done in Balamb Garden. SeeDs
don't have time to get married." He paused. He had said way too much. He
had done it on purpose though.

To be continued....

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